{"id":2201865,"date":"2025-12-16T21:10:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T21:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2201865"},"modified":"2025-12-16T21:10:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T21:10:35","slug":"is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-lets-unwrap-its-history-and-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-lets-unwrap-its-history-and-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Is &#8220;Last Christmas&#8221; a gay song? Let&#8217;s unwrap its history and see&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The 1984 Wham! song \u201cLast Christmas\u201d has become a regular holiday favorite among listeners who like their Yuletide jingles with a touch of romantic heartbreak. But is <em>Last Christmas<\/em> a gay song? It depends on how you view its history and lyrics (especially since its music video is decidedly heterosexual).<\/p>\n<p>To answer the question \u201cIs \u2018Last Christmas\u2019 a gay song?\u201d we took a deeper look at its biographical, historical, and cultural contexts. In short, a lot of fans think <em>Last Christmas<\/em> can be interpreted as a gay or bisexual song, even though its lyrics aren\u2019t explicitly gay.<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"block_6cb2873470872a61b613cd75c23731e5\" class=\"wp-block-related-links  border-0 p-0\">\n<hr\/>\n<h2 class=\"text-base sm:text-lg !mt-4 !mb-2 font-sans purple-highlight-sm inline-block\">Related<\/h2>\n<article class=\"flex flex-nowrap border rounded-lg shadow-lg\">\n            <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lgbtqnation.com\/2023\/04\/is-it-actually-gay-heres-the-true-meaning-of-the-song-ymca\/\" class=\"gtm-related-click group\" aria-label=\"Is it actually gay? Here\u2019s the true meaning of the song \u201cYMCA\u201d\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"relative flex-shrink-0 w-[175px] h-[130px] aspect-4\/3 rounded-l-lg overflow-hidden\">\n                <img decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2020\/11\/VillagePeople1978-400x264.jpg?width=175&amp;height=130&amp;aspect_ratio=1.35:1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2020\/11\/VillagePeople1978-400x264.jpg?width=350&amp;height=260&amp;aspect_ratio=1.35:1 350w, https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2020\/11\/VillagePeople1978-400x264.jpg?width=175&amp;height=130&amp;aspect_ratio=1.35:1 175w\" sizes=\"175px\" width=\"175\" height=\"130\" class=\"absolute object-cover object-center transition-all ease-in-out duration-200 group-hover:brightness-110 group-hover:scale-105\"\/>\n              <\/div>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<hr class=\"mt-8\"\/><\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is <em>Last Christmas<\/em> a gay song? It was created by a queer man.<\/h2>\n<p>Wham! was a 1980s British music duo consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Though the duo began releasing albums in 1983 and broke up in 1986, they had an outsized impact as one of Britain\u2019s biggest pop acts, even rivaling Boy George\u2019s Culture Club, performing at the iconic 1985 Live Aid concert against hunger, and becoming the first Western pop group to tour in China.<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"inarticle-newsletter\" class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-default newsletter-cta bg-purple-900 text-white p-6 pb-8 rounded-xl shadow-xl \">\n<h3 class=\"!mt-0 !mb-2 font-serif font-bold\">Never Miss a Beat<\/h3>\n<p>    <span class=\"block text-base mb-4 mt-0\">Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.<\/span><br \/>\n      <!-- .wpforms-container -->  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The duo\u2019s debut album,\u00a0<em>Fantastic<\/em>, was Number 1 for two weeks in the U.K. album charts, and their 1984 single \u201cLast Christmas\u201d has repeatedly reached the top of the singles charts and appeared in numerous holiday-themed TV shows and movies, even decades after its release.<\/p>\n<p>Even though Wham! released \u201cLast Christmas\u201d as a single, Michael wrote, performed, and recorded the song without Ridgeley.\u00a0A year before the song\u2019s release, Michael told Ridgeley that he considered himself bisexual, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/george-michael-interview\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\"><em>GQ<\/em> magazine reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cI used to sleep with women quite a lot in the Wham! days,\u201d Michael told the publication, \u201cbut never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn\u2019t want to commit to them, but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael dated female makeup artist Kathy Yueng between 1986 and 1988; she even appeared in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vldh7oQD-a4\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">his music video for \u201cI Want Your Sex.\u201d<\/a> However, George said that he started to realize he was gay by 1986; and by 1991, he was in a relationship with male Brazilian dress designer Anselmo Feleppa. Michael publicly came out as gay following his April 1998 arrest for\u00a0public lewdness in a men\u2019s park restroom.<\/p>\n<p>So, to recap: Michael publicly identified as bisexual at the time that he wrote and released \u201cLast Christmas\u201d (even if he suspected that he might actually be gay at the time). However, the song\u2019s ambiguous lyrics also lend credence to the idea of \u201cLast Christmas\u201d as a queer song.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is <em>Last Christmas<\/em> a gay song? Its lyrics can go either way<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1140\" height=\"904\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Andrew Ridgeley, dressed in a reindeer headdress and costume with a red dot on his nose, closes his eyes and purses his lips as George Michael, dressed in a white-furred Santa hat and coat and holding brightly wrapped Christmas presents, looks towards him. Snow falls on both of the men who are white-skinned brunettes.\" class=\"wp-image-495812\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=1140 1140w, https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=400 400w, https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=1452 1452w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 834px) 772px, 100vw\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=772\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1140\" height=\"904\" src=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=772\" alt=\"Andrew Ridgeley, dressed in a reindeer headdress and costume with a red dot on his nose, closes his eyes and purses his lips as George Michael, dressed in a white-furred Santa hat and coat and holding brightly wrapped Christmas presents, looks towards him. Snow falls on both of the men who are white-skinned brunettes.\" class=\"wp-image-495812\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=1140 1140w, https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=400 400w, https:\/\/lgbtqnation-wp.b-cdn.net\/assets\/2025\/12\/wham-is-last-christmas-a-gay-song-02-1140x904.jpeg?width=1452 1452w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 834px) 772px, 100vw\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A promotional image for \u201cLast Christmas\u201d by Wham!  | Columbia, Epic, CBS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>People who ask, \u201cIs \u2018Last Christmas\u2019 a gay song?\u201d often point to the lack of gender and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lgbtqnation.com\/2022\/08\/incomplete-list-gender-pronouns\/\" class=\"linkify\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">pronouns<\/a> in its lyrics. The song is mostly addressed to an anonymous \u201cyou\u201d who has left the singer heartbroken, though the singer also addresses them as \u201cbaby\u201d and \u201csomeone to rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are the lyrics many people point to when suggesting that Michael may be singing to either a man, a woman, or someone of an indeterminate gender.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>(<em>Chorus<\/em>) Last Christmas I gave you my heart<br \/>But the very next day you gave it away<br \/>This year, to save me from tears<br \/>I\u2019ll give it to someone special<\/p>\n<p>Once bitten and twice shy<br \/>I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye<br \/>Tell me baby, do you recognize me?<br \/>Well, it\u2019s been a year, it doesn\u2019t surprise me<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>However, one stanza that appears later in the song mentions \u201ca <em>man<\/em> undercover\u201d with \u201ca fire in <em>his<\/em> heart.\u201d <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A face on a lover with a fire in his heart<br \/>A man under cover, but you tore me apart<br \/>Oh, oh now I\u2019ve found a real love<br \/>You\u2019ll never fool me again<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s likely that this man is Michael himself, but it\u2019s entirely possible that the man could be the lover that the song is addressed to. <\/p>\n<p>Does the \u201cfire in his heart\u201d refer to Michael\u2019s heart or that of his lover? Does the \u201cman undercover\u201d refer to Michael \u2014 because he felt like a closeted gay man at the time \u2014 or is his lover \u201cundercover\u201d because he\u2019s hiding his true affections for someone else?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that when Michael repeats this stanza near the end of the song, he sings, \u201cA man under cover, but you tore <em>him<\/em> apart,\u201d changing \u201cme\u201d to the third-person male pronoun \u201chim,\u201d possibly suggesting a man other than Michael or a past version of himself that he now feels distant from.<\/p>\n<p>The debate over whether \u201cLast Christmas\u201d is a gay song mostly hinges upon these lyrics and the singer\u2019s sexual orientation. However, the song\u2019s 1984 music video also holds a vital clue.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is <em>Last Christmas<\/em> a gay song? Its 1984 music video is very heterosexual<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wham! - Last Christmas (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E8gmARGvPlI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The 1984 music video for the song shows Michael exiting a jeep in front of a snowy Swiss cabin hideaway and then waving to an excited brunette woman and several other opposite-sex couples who watch from the cabin\u2019s deck. However, Michael then escorts a blonde woman out of the Jeep\u2019s backseat, putting his arm around her as the brunette woman notices and looks disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>Michael and the brunette share a few intense glances and moments near the Christmas tree and from across the room. A sequence near the video\u2019s end shows Michael and the brunette running and lying together in the snow and then resting on the floor inside near a fire: She opens a ring box and then rests her head on his chest \u2014 but the entire sequence may just be a fantasy or a memory. (It\u2019s unclear.)<\/p>\n<p>All other couples in the video are male-female pairings, and all significant interactions occur only between men and women. As such, the video doesn\u2019t give off any major homoerotic vibes (apart from Michael wearing earrings, some makeup for his rosy cheeks, and briefly wearing sparkly tinsel as a scarf while decorating the tree).<\/p>\n<p>A final shot shows Michael and the brunette, their arms around one another, as they walk up a snowy hill. Interestingly, the video never shows Michael interacting with the blonde woman he escorted out of the Jeep, apart from briefly listening to her speak at the dinner table near the video\u2019s middle. As for the brunette woman, she has her own male partner who she mostly ignores in the video as well.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is <em>Last Christmas<\/em> a gay song? It\u2019s up to you!<\/h2>\n<p>So, is \u201cLast Christmas\u201d a gay song? In conclusion, it really depends on how you want to see it. Michael publicly identified as bisexual (but privately worried he was really gay) while writing it. He dated a woman shortly after the 1984 release and showed a heterosexual relationship in the music video.<\/p>\n<p>However, the lack of female pronouns in the song\u2019s lyrics at least suggests it could be addressed to a man, especially when considering the lines about \u201ca man undercover\u201d and \u201ca fire in his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The great thing about \u201cLast Christmas\u201d is that Michael made it into a sort of surprise Christmas gift that, once unwrapped, can contain a story about a straight, gay, or bisexual relationship. It\u2019s a gift that keeps on giving, as its continued popularity each year proves again and again.<\/p>\n<p><em>Subscribe to the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lgbtqnation.com\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><strong>LGBTQ Nation newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n        !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n        {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n        n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n        if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n        n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n        t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n        'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n        fbq('init', '686853021424163');\n        fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.lgbtqnation.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 1984 Wham! song \u201cLast Christmas\u201d has become a regular holiday favorite among listeners who like their Yuletide jingles with a touch of romantic heartbreak. But is Last Christmas a gay song? It depends on how you view its history and lyrics (especially since its music video is decidedly heterosexual). To answer the question \u201cIs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2201866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[425091,425090,22116,425092,425093,425094,425095,398648,21800,308470],"class_list":["post-2201865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-art-and-artists","tag-arts-media","tag-christmas","tag-gay-musicians","tag-lgbtq-artists","tag-lgbtq-musicians","tag-lgbtq-search","tag-merry-christmas","tag-music","tag-post"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Is-Last-Christmas-a-gay-song-Lets-unwrap-its-history.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2201867,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201865\/revisions\/2201867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2201866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}